The Seven Realms: Opening
by Xander Jaws
Summary: Worlds come into contact with each other, causing alliances to form that will change everything. Multi-story crossover, oneshot. This is a lead-in to a series of fics.
1. Chapter 1

This is just a two-shot (originally one) to establish the Seven Realms and how it happened. All of the characters seen in the first chapter are OCs, but the second chapter goes back to canon characters again. The other stories in the series will use mainly canon characters. If it all goes according to plan, there will be quite a few fics to look forward to. Enjoy, and please review if there's anything especially good or bad.

I do not own any of the stories this fanfic is based off of.

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The strongest man in the world walked away from his final battle. He knew some of his friends were still alive, but he was in no mood to face them right now. Whatever they thought, he was no hero. He had failed too many people, from too many worlds, to ever be considered a hero. Not one family member was left to him, his uncle having given his own life on this battlefield to ensure their victory.

"Ah, the sad thoughts of the humble," a mocking voice greeted him. He jumped, surprised by the unexpected voice. Even with all his power, he couldn't sense the person who had spoken. Which meant it could only be one being.

"Dark One," he greeted the invisible entity. A man appeared before him, so suddenly it was unnerving. There was no noise to indicate travel, no shimmering of the air to indicate a veil being lifted, he was just _there_ where nothing had been. Harry had seen this before, but he still marveled. He knew just how vast the gap in power between himself and his friends was; the gap between himself and the Dark One was magnitudes greater. It was to be expected, given that the Dark One was a God of the Multiverse.

The local deity looked as he always did: at six and a half feet tall, he was just a bit shorter than Harry. He wore only a pair of shorts, a jacket, and a single boot on his right foot, all of which were jet black. Most of his exposed skin was covered in tattoos of all colors, a mass of crude and spiky images that resonated with power. His left ear was filled with earrings made of red crystal. One of his eyes was milky white and blind, the other a solid black orb. His hair was bone white, worn in a long mess that hung down past his shoulders. As usual, he was smirking condescendingly at the nearest mortal, namely Harry. Only once in living memory had he said anything complimentary about a mortal.

"You just eliminated evil," the Dark One pointed out. "The final user of Black Blood, of the Shinju's Hatred, of Melschee's Door, and of Horcruxes is dead by your blade. You even reclaimed your sister's knife." He flicked a finger and the blade slid out of Harry's sash, floating in the air between them. "What do you have to feel so miserable about?"

"If I eliminated evil, why are _you_ still here?"

The Dark One laughed, appreciating the jab.

"I'm a necessary evil, boy."

"I only took the knife back to put it in my sister's grave."

"So you succeeded."

"How? Everyone is dead, everything is destroyed. My 'victory' came at the price of civilization."

"Yes, you had to sacrifice the world's last city to win this fight. I know. I've done far worse, and you don't see me beating myself up over it."

"There's a reason you're called Dark."

"So being Light means you feel bad after you win a fight?"

"I didn't win. There was no way to win. In order to kill him, I sacrificed thousands. If I hadn't done that, we would have all died anyway."

"There are survivors, boy. That means you have some manner of victory." He shrugged. "You're young, and you're going to die one day. If that wasn't true, you'd have a better sense of perspective. There's enough survivors for humanity to rebuild. Give it a thousand years or so, and a new civilization will rise from the ashes. A thousand years is nothing."

"Easy for you to say."

"Yes," the Dark One acknowledged bluntly. "Now then, since your victory saved the Seven Realms, there's going to be a small celebration. If you'd like to join us, you have been invited."

"Join who?"

"Myself and a great many other Gods. We've been watching your people for a long time, this is a very enthralling part of the Multiverse."

"So we've been your entertainment for the past few centuries?"

"Well, it's been my job to keep up-to-date on what's happening here, and make sure it has a decent outcome. For the others, yes, you've been entertainment."

"Well I'd love to meet the people who have been eating popcorn while watching us struggle to survive," Harry said sardonically.

"Thought you'd like the idea," the Dark One shot back. "Let's not waste time then."

"Wait!"

The Dark One paused in the act of raising his hands.

"Yes?"

"I have to go put this where it belongs first," Harry said, plucking the knife out of the air. The Dark One nodded, then clapped his hands. The world twisted around them, colors and shapes blurring together into incomprehension, then untwisted to reveal that they now stood in front of a great mausoleum of white marble. The smoking battlefield had been dark and lit only by moonlight, while this place was bathed in the light of the setting sun. Harry walked forward sadly, climbing the steps to the monument. He was a little surprised that the Dark One remained where he was, leaving him to himself. That was good though. He needed a moment alone before the most aggravating deity he'd ever met dragged him off to a party.

The inside of the mausoleum was comfortably warm and well-lit, just as he'd designed it to be. The entire thing was one of his greatest accomplishments, a single piece of marble molded into the proper shape. There was no cutting and placing, no ordinary manual labor involved in its creation. Just his magic, exercised to the fullest to give his sister a burial site she deserved. He walked deeper into the structure, past the murals he and his friends had decorated the walls with, the ones that depicted Molly throughout her life, growing up bright and happy despite the perpetual war. The last image showed her celebrating with the rest of them. It had been right after they began to counterattack the Bloody Army, crushing hundreds of the monsters without a single casualty.

Only two days later, the Dark Lords had gone to the city themselves and turned the tide once more.

The wall at the far end from the entrance had been carved with her epitaph, commemorating how she had been loved and treasured by everyone who knew her. And just in front of that wall stood her coffin, made of black stone. However he had tried, some part of him wouldn't let it be any other color. His power was incredible, but it was closely tied to his emotions. So he let it be the single spot of darkness in this place. It did seem fitting, after all.

"Hello, Molly," he greeted his sister. Raising his hand, he levitated the lid of the coffin, simultaneously forming a telekinetic barrier to keep the smell contained. He held up her knife, admiring it one last time. It had a pink shine to it, always looking bright and lustrous no matter how much blood and destruction surrounded it, just like Molly herself. The stony handle fit comfortably in his hand, but his decades of fighting told him that it wasn't perfect. She had always been the one who the legendary knife was intended for, and he would let no one else take it now. He relinquished the blade and it floated over to her coffin, moving smoothly through the barrier. He adjusted it so that it pointed towards her feet, then lowered both it and the lid to their proper places.

"I did all that I could," he told her. "At the very least, I was able to stop their evil. Maybe the Dark One is right, maybe the future can be something good now." Tears rolled down his cheeks, but he made no move to wipe them away. "I wish I could have done this before you died," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

He couldn't say anything else, so after a few minutes he turned around and left. A strange sense of finality was settling over him. Today was the end of an era, not only the end of the wars but also of his own personal war. No longer would he be a warrior. There was nothing else to fight. He would have to become something different, and he had no idea how.

The Dark One was sitting cross-legged, floating in the air as he waited for Harry to return. When the mortal walked down the stairs and stood in front of him again, the god clapped his hands together at once. The world twisted around them again, this time settling into a simple, if huge, room. It was enormous, vast enough that a mountain could probably fit inside. The two of them stood near the doors, two slabs of solid gold that made up an entire wall. A symbol he'd never seen before was set in silver on each door: a whale superimposed over a sun. The rest of the room was empty. The far end was open to the outside, looking out onto an ocean reflecting countless stars.

"Where are we?"

"Not on Earth. This is one of the safest places in all existence, and the owner is a great host, so people tend to party here."

"This is one hell of a house," Harry muttered.

"Oh, this isn't his house. This is just where he meets guests."

"I'm guessing some of those guests are pretty big," Harry said, looking at the enormous doors.

"There's a few peaceful Kaiju wandering around the Multiverse," the Dark One said. Harry raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to comment.

The Dark One turned to open the doors, then paused and looked at the tattered state of Harry's clothes and the scrapes and bruises all over his face.

"If I were you, I would make a quick prayer before we go in."

"A prayer? To who?"

"The Barnacle. God of awesomeness and good suits."

Harry raised an eyebrow. The Dark One waited quietly until he looked away and muttered something unflattering under his breath. He'd learned a long time ago to just do what the Dark One said. Life was easier that way. He uttered a quick prayer, surprised to find the words coming easily to him despite having never heard of this god.

"O great god Barnacle, may I be well-dressed and awesome for this event."

As soon as the last word left his mouth, he was clad in a dark three-piece suit. His scruffiness now looked more like battle scars, making him ruggedly good-looking. The fatigue and sadness was gone, replaced only with the sense that the rest of the night was going to be something incredible, awesome, maybe even legendary.

"That's better," the Dark One said. He raised one hand to the doors, and the perfectly balanced slabs of metal swung open silently at his touch, hardly any effort required to move the gargantuan objects.

A wave of noise crashed over them and Harry drew his sword reflexively as his eyes flashed red. It took him a moment to realize that the crowd of inhuman beings filling the hall were cheering and laughing, not looking to fight. He put the weapon away, ignoring the Dark One's chuckle.

"What are all these people?"

"Gods, from all over the Multiverse." He grinned at Harry's obvious surprise. "It's a big place, after all. Humans occupy a very small part of it." A cocky smirk covered his face. "We do have a higher percentage of Gods than most species, though. We're unusually stubborn, apparently." He shrugged, as if it didn't really matter to him. Probably didn't, he was a fairly self-absorbed being. "Let's enjoy the party," he suggested. Without waiting for a response, he turned into a mass of black liquid and shot off, flowing through the guests to reach a refreshments table bigger than Harry's house. Harry moved a bit more slowly, choosing to float through the air. It didn't make him stand out; some Gods walked, some crawled, some flew, some flowed like the Dark One, and of course some of them just winked in and out of existence, teleporting across vast distances like it was nothing. Harry could teleport, but it required either preparation or a lot of energy. He'd gotten both techniques from his ancestors.

The food was like nothing he'd ever seen before. That was saying something, given that he'd been to the Gourmet World and eaten the Feast of the Gods. Everything at this party was delicious, and some of it had flavors he'd never thought possible. He stayed at the table for a long time; when he walked away everyone had started to congratulate him and wanted to talk about their greatest deeds when they were still mortal. He had no interest in discussing the battle he'd just come from, so he kept eating.

The Dark One popped up next to him a few hours later. The God snatched some sort of biscuit made out of light from Harry's hand and tossed it in his own mouth, which opened grotesquely to capture the whole thing. His throat bulged as he swallowed it.

"What do you want?"

"There'll be an event in a few minutes. You need to be there," the Dark One said.

"Why?"

"Because I said so. Don't waste time." He turned to liquid, flowing down the table, engulfing several pieces of food along the way and taking them with him. Harry followed wearily.

The Dark One resumed his human form when he reached a spot Harry hadn't noticed before: a plain white chair, carved from stone and looking something like a giant eggshell with part of it sliced neatly away. The Dark One settled himself into it and the chair rose up as the lights dimmed. The crowd quickly fell silent as Gods began to approach, surrounding the Dark One's floating chair. His audience settled down, most on the floor but some still floating or clinging to columns. Harry hovered, sitting cross-legged about half a mile above the floor. The Dark One's chair stopped rising when it was over a mile above the floor, but when he spoke his voice was loud enough to fill the entire room.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and those who have completely different genders. Or none whatsoever." He paused, and Harry sensed irritation and exasperation from a fair amount of the crowd. Part of him felt that it was good to know he wasn't the only person the Dark One deliberately tried to piss off. "As you know, I am the Dark One. I suppose some of you may not know, if you just came here for the free food."

No one responded, leaving the Dark One waiting silently. His seat was rotating slowly, allowing him to observe the whole room. He grinned down at them, a wide toothy smirk that said he was hoping someone would snap and get angry with him. Harry called to mind his meditation exercises.

"We've all spent a fair amount of time - as much as that statement can apply to people whose very existence pretty much rapes linear time - observing a certain piece of the Multiverse. You know the one. The Seven Realms."

Harry glanced around, curious about the Gods reaction. A lot of them were still looking up at the Dark One, but some were whispering to each other or doing what looked like the equivalent of nudging each other with elbows. The different anatomies they displayed made it difficult to comprehend much about their physical interactions. Regardless, the Dark One remained silent until the crowd had calmed down.

"It was a mistake, an accident, an unintentional offshoot of the Godspawn Project. I would say the worst part was that the High God could not prevent it, but that's not true. The worst part is that he wouldn't let me just eat the whole damn universe to begin with and get it over with."

A very pregnant pause filled the room. Harry found himself wanting to shoot the Dark One. _Eat_ his homeworld? The very idea made him shake with anger. Knowing that the bastard of a God wasn't joking only made things worse.

"But no, he couldn't bear the thought of admitting his screw-up, so he put me in charge of fixing it. Well, I did what I could within the rules. You've seen me work at it. Trying to guide people, minimize damage from Convergences as best I could, and do the whole 'help the innocent masses' thing. Not really my style, but I think I did okay." He grinned from ear to ear. "And we've gotten to see some quality fights. The first generation of the Seven Realms, those guys were great. Naruto Uzumaki, Ageha Yoshina, Toriko, Harry Potter, Niten. Some amazing warriors." He cocked his head to one side. "I feel like I'm forgetting some, but no matter. Oh, right!" He clapped his hands brightly. "Black Star and Death the Kidd! Couldn't forget those two."

Harry nodded mildly. That was where he'd gotten his middle name from. In fact, all three of his names were from famous ancestors: Harry Kidd Uzumaki. Although the Dark One had only recalled two of those ancestors.

"But despite how good they were, they couldn't save the Seven Realms. They had kids, and passed their duties down. Sadly, some of those kids' duties involved fighting the others. And those kids had their own children, and on it went, down through over a thousand years of conflict. Empires rose and fell, whole species were wiped off the face of the universe. War, war, war. The names and faces changed, and slowly, bit by bit, the Seven Realms became one big cohesive place. Finally, around sixty years ago, there was not one civilization that limited itself to a single Realm. They sprawled all over the place, using the vast number of Convergences to exist in multiple worlds. They were even at peace with each other."

He chuckled, his grin sharpening as he did so into an expression that reminded Harry of a shark.

"Of course, that peace was very temporary. The only reason the High God didn't call it a success right then was because we could all see what was coming."

Harry knew exactly what he was talking about. Sixty years previously was when the Dark Lords had made their grand return to the public eye. The Time of Endless Night.

"It started when the sun did not rise. Clouds had covered the skies, engulfing all Seven Realms in darkness. And within that darkness, fear spread among the common folk, the little sheep that heroes so love to protect, even at the cost of their lives. The Legion made them pay that cost, over and over again, until one man gave his life for a spell that not only dispelled the eternal darkness, it traced the magic back to its originator and slew him." Harry saw his teeth actually change, sharpening into fangs. "That was a sight to remember. And from then on, it was war once again. The Legion of Darkness would settle for no less than complete control of the world, and they had plenty of people willing to sign on. It was a nasty, brutal, bloody, backstabbing affair that didn't last long enough. The Legion lost men from the get-go, and never accepted that their approach would leave most of the Seven Realms empty of all life. They were particularly vexed by one man who had the blood of many ancient heroes: Harry Uzumaki."

Harry forced himself not to shift uncomfortably as every eye in the building fell on him. He stared resolutely up at the Dark One, who smirked down at him.

"Harry was born about twenty years after the 'Time of Endless Night.'" The god actually made quotation marks in the air with his fingers like a kid. "And by the time he was eight, he was causing problems for the Legion. It was quite remarkable really. Over the following thirty years, he took down most of the Legion by himself."

Not really. Harry'd had a lot of help in the process. Granted, most of that help was now dead.

"At the end, it came down to Harry, alone against the top brass of the Legion. He was outnumbered, but thanks to the mantles he'd inherited and a ritual that was pulled off shortly before the final assault, they were outmatched. And now, beings of all gender and sexual identities, the Seven Realms is at long last safe. Unless one of us does something to fuck it up again - and even I pity the idiot that gets on the High God's bad side that way - that particular part of the Multiverse will go on to peace and prosperity for millennia."

Not soon enough. Not in time to billions of lives that shouldn't have been risked. Not early enough to keep Harry from using a forbidden ritual to make himself a living force of nature that could squash a Bijuu.

"Now then." The Dark One turned purposefully to Harry, his chair ceasing its constant rotations. "As the savior of your world, even _you_ must understand that you have acquired tremendous prestige. Everyone here -" he gestured around the room. "Has been through difficult trials. We all know what it is like to go through war."

Harry hoped that the other gods were more sympathetic than the Dark One seemed to be.

"As such, the decision has been made -" The Dark One pulled a face at this. "For me to grant you one wish. Any one wish, whatever you like. Say it, and I shall do it." He gave the mortal a cocky grin. "And before you go wasting that wish, keep in mind that I'm a god. I can do things beyond your wildest imagination."

Harry could imagine quite a bit. So he heeded the Dark One's warning and took several minutes to think over what he truly wanted. His first instinct was to bring back all the innocents who had died in the war, but he suspected the Dark One would be rather put out with such a wish and would find some way to muck it up. The thought made Harry grind his teeth together, but he knew the Dark One. Besides, maybe he could do something better than that. Better than just reincarnating everyone who'd died. They shouldn't have had to die in the first place. It was wrong, all of it. The thousand years of war, the endless struggle to kill each other, the entire pointless waste of life. He wished it hadn't been like that.

"Change it," he told the Dark One. The god raised an eyebrow, his pitch-black eye narrowing slightly as the blind one widened. "Change the past of the Seven Realms. Make it better, make it so there's not so much death, not so many years of pain and terror and destruction. That's my wish."

The room fell silent. Harry began to worry that he actually had made a wish that was beyond the god. He knew they all had rules to follow, perhaps rewriting time was against those rules. He was about to open his mouth to say something when the Dark One gave him an enormous grin, his cheeks actually peeling back to expose rows of sharklike teeth.

"Perfect," he said in a gloating tone. He clapped his hands and the space he sat in flickered and wavered for a moment before he winked out of existence.

A flash of insight came to Harry: He'd been set up. The Dark One had done it deliberately, bringing up the awful past of his world and mocking it in order to rile him up. Then he'd given him a wish, and Harry suspected something in the rules prevented him from just outright telling Harry what kind of wish he ought to make. So he'd told him to think it over, and Harry had thought up the exact wish the Dark One had wanted from him.

All this occurred to Harry in the half second between the god speaking and then disappearing. After that, there was no Harry for anything to occur to.

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The Dark One phased into existence. He looked around himself; he'd aimed right, stopping shortly before the first Convergence of the Seven Realms. That one had caused a lot of problems, but mainly just because it had been so sudden and violent. If it was smoother and more stable, that would go a hell of a long way towards improving the outcome of this universe.

"Then stop wasting time," a voice growled inside of him. "You've been waiting for this opportunity. You know what to do."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Yoko-chan."

The voice snarled at the hated nickname, while several other voices laughed. The Dark One cracked his metaphysical knuckles and set to work.


	2. Chapter 2

Hopefully you enjoyed the first half. This is to set up a lot of things for the rest of the series, so don't expect all that much. I just want to know if you'd be interested to read more. Enjoy, and please review.

I own none of the stories or characters mentioned, save the Dark One.

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Amagi Miroku waved goodbye to Mr. Nakamura as he left the man's shop. The pounding of hammer on steel picked up as the smith resumed his work. Amagi strolled down the street, greeting everyone he passed by name. They all smiled and greeted him in return, sometimes by name sometimes by his title. As he approached his office, he walked past the orphanage. He braced himself just in time to catch the kids that came flying at him. A pair of twins - Travis and Connor if memory served - were floating a few feet off the ground as they hugged him. The younger children, the ones who didn't have control of their PSI yet, just clustered around his legs, begging to be picked up. The red-haired main opted to kneel down instead, patting their heads and asking how they all were. They only had a minute or two before the landlady came out and shepherded the children back inside, picking Travis and Connor off his shoulders telekinetically.

"I'm sorry Mr. Miroku, they're a little too fast for me sometimes."

"It's not a problem," Amagi assured her. "I like to know that the orphans are happy. And it has been a whole month since I left. That's a long time for them."

"We're all glad you're back safely," she said.

"Thank you Mrs. Hudson," Amagi said. He smiled and waved goodbye as he walked next door to his office.

"You're far too kind, Amagi," Junas said matter-of-factly as Amagi walked the entrance hall. As always, Amagi's oldest friend was dressed all in black, matching his hair and eyes.

"These are peaceful times, Junas. There's no need to be as we were in the past."

"Just because we've changed doesn't mean we weren't killers before," Junas argued.

"Do you think I've forgotten that?" Amagi's strange red eyes narrowed slightly.

"Sometimes, yes. I do. And then I worry that you'll turn your back on someone and get killed for it."

Amagi smiled and deliberately turned away from Junas.

"Be my guest, old friend."

Silence reigned in the empty hall for a long minute. Then Junas sighed wearily and shook his head.

"Besides, you're a fine one to talk about getting too peaceful when you're standing here waiting for your daughter," Amagi pointed out.

"She's an hour late," Junas said calmly.

"Maybe she and her boyfriend lost track of time."

Junas's hand disappeared into his pocket as he looked out at the city.

"Perhaps," he ground out through clenched teeth.

"You know she can handle herself, Junas. Stop being so overprotective."

A burst of energy shot past Amagi's face, striking the wall behind him. He turned his head to see a deep gouge in the solid stone. Junas put his knife away, still not looking at Amagi.

"I am not overprotective," the military chief of Hana no Kuni said.

"As you say," the king said, letting the matter drop. He left the entrance hall and went upstairs to his office.

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Jiraiya sat back and brushed some of his white hair out of his eyes to examine his handiwork. It was a space-time seal matrix, a more advanced way of storing objects. If this worked right, it would be at least ten times faster than the seals he currently used. _Really_, he thought, _seals are so much more useful than ninjutsu. Wonder why more people don__'t study them. I mean, it's not like ninjutsu stopped the Kyuubi._

He grew a little sad, as he always did when thinking about that incident. It had been ten years ago that his student Minato gave his life to seal away the nine-tailed fox demon, but every time Jiraiya thought about him it still felt like just yesterday. Minato had been like a son to him, and Jiraiya would always regret that he hadn't been there to take his student's place in the sealing.

"Stop blaming yourself, idiot," he repeated out loud what his teammate had told him about the incident. "You couldn't have known he would need your help there."

He needed to focus on something positive. He set a few random objects on the seal matrix he'd drawn and wove a couple signs. With just a single burst of chakra, everything was sealed into the scroll. Grinning, he did it in reverse, unsealing the scroll. The objects reappeared, none the worse for wear after being effectively tossed in a bag in the fabric of space and time. Jiraiya tossed more objects onto the pile and sealed them again, then unsealed them. It still worked perfectly. His grin grew broader. With this, he wouldn't have to write out separate seals for each individual object he wanted to seal away. An entire mess of objects could be packed away all at once. Just for fun, he kept making the pile bigger and bigger, sealing and unsealing over and over again, until almost everything he owned was disappearing and reappearing. He kept having to put more chakra into the matrix, but he decided this was a fair trade off. Finally, he ran out of objects to add to the pile. He sealed it all up, just to see everything vanish again.

"Well, that was fun." He prepared to unseal it so he could organize it just a little bit before putting it away.

XXXXX

The Dark One smiled as he pulled at the fabric of space and time, weaving a few select threads into Jiraiya's seal.

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Niten strolled through a gate and left the watery Shadowrealm behind, stepping into a lush green forest. He knew this place well, and didn't hesitate to walk into it, occasionally adjusting the two sword at his hip to keep them from catching on vines. At over four hundred years old, he had been to a lot of places, some much stranger and more dangerous than this. He didn't worry about the few inhabitants of the world, preferring to think about the woman he was going back to. Aoife would have come with him on this journey, but the Elder Poseidon had an old quarrel with her family, and Niten didn't want to risk angering the being. Even among the Elders, Poseidon had an unnerving reputation.

Oh well. Niten had helped find the Elder's daughter and returned the girl to her father's land. She wasn't happy with Niten, but he had Benzaiten's orders to help Poseidon with this. Apparently she owed the Master of Water for something. Niten was curious, of course, but he knew better than to ask her questions like that.

Niten groaned as he massaged his shoulder. He'd almost been struck from behind, and the speed with which he had spun around to cut down the second minotaur had dislocated his shoulder. Far from the first time it had happened – the first two hundred years of his life were very eventful – but that didn't mean he'd gotten used to it. He had another reason to get back to Aoife quickly. She was much better than him at using aura to heal. She would berate him for letting them catch him off guard, but she would take care of him. Smiling slightly, he stepped forward, into the gate that led to the crossroads of Xibalba.

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The Dark One pulled at a rip in the fabric. It would have taken years for that little tear to become a full-blown hole between worlds, but with his help it became a stable gate in an instant.

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Once the door was closed Amagi Miroku collapsed in his chair and let himself finally relax. The last month had been far too stressful, and as much as he enjoyed seeing the people of his city again after so long, he needed a few minutes alone to just rest and stop thinking or worrying.

Hana no Kuni, or Flower Country, was still barely a decade old. It was the only place in the world for psychics to live openly and freely, which made it both a tremendous resource and an incredible threat for the rest of the world. The founders, Amagi and his friends, had literally raised the island on which the country sat from the ocean floor. While few people in the world had their level of power, all psychics were still able to do remarkable things for the world - Amagi's job was to make sure those things were done on the psychics' own terms and will. After being a government lab rat for most of his childhood, he refused to allow ordinary humans to oppress and abuse his fellow psychics.

Of course, as Junas pointed out, he hadn't always been so altruistic.

Pushing that thought aside, he tried to focus on the good things that had happened during the trip. His country was still safe from the rest of the world and they had their allies, so long as they kept to their treaties. His people were perfectly willing to help the rest of the world by using their powers, so Amagi felt certain everything would keep running smoothly.

Not even one minute later, he cursed himself for even _thinking_ something so optimistic. Telepathic messages bombarded him, yelling for help. Some were clearer and more detailed than others, so at least he knew where the problem was. He jumped up from his chair and, rather than running down the stairs and out the front door, he flung open the large windows in his office and jumped out, easily taking the two story fall and racing out into the city. As he got closer to the point all the messages were coming from, he could sense what they were all telling him: somebody's PSI was going out of control. A groan escaped him. The last time this had happened, Roy had burned down an entire city block before Shiner was able to teleport him out to the ocean.

Amagi didn't see anything being destroyed this time, but the Burst waves coming from the woman lying on the street were growing by the second. He reached her a moment after laying eyes on her. To his chagrin, he only remembered her PSI power, not her name. He tried to memorize the name and power of every person living in the city, but he wasn't perfect. He knew his sister never forgot anyone, ever since they were kids. She would have made a much better ruler than him, the least he could do was emulate her as best he could.

He pushed aside his old worries. He had built and run Flower Country for over a decade, he didn't need to be his sister to handle one more little crisis. The woman on the ground specialized in Burst and Trance. The former power was the one going out of control; she could vibrate anything she set her mind to, down to the molecular level. Normally it was only good for starting fires by causing friction or reducing objects to sand, which was why she earned her living with her Trance powers instead, acting as one more telepath making up the city's communication network. No one had thought her Burst power was the kind to go out of control like this, but now that it had everyone was keeping their distance. Amagi understood why as the ground under her began to disintegrate before his eyes. The air was shaking, rattling his vision just a bit.

As he knelt down and prepared to use his Trance on her, the windows in the nearby buildings began to shatter. He focused intently, probing into her mind and accessing the portion of her brain that controlled her PSI. He fought to keep the grimace off his face as he sensed how much energy was coursing through her mind. Something had set her off, and her mind kept feeding her PSI, as if nothing else mattered. If she didn't stop soon, her own power would start to damage her brain.

"Stay back," Amagi ordered. He would need a little more time to turn off her PSI, but he could buy that time. He placed both hands on the ground and focused. A pair of glowing trees sprang to life, rooting themselves firmly in the earth and growing swiftly, their branches spreading around the woman. His personal Burst, Sephiroth, began absorbing psychic energy from the woman's PSI. It would take a little of the stress off her, giving him some time to shut down her Burst before it could kill her.

Even as he went back to his Trance connection with her, the Sephiroth began to crack. He hesitated, wondering if he needed to reinforce it, and a moment later the heavy vibrations in the air shattered the glowing trees. As if the woman understood what had happened, a jolt of fear shot through her mind, causing her Burst to spike briefly. The disintegration of the ground spread outward, and people began to clear the street hurriedly. Amagi agreed with them; no one would be able to help much now. If he wasn't what he was, he wouldn't be able to survive being this close to her. Anyone who tried to help would only die. In fact, he wasn't even certain anymore whether he could stop this woman.

He took the mental equivalent of a deep breath, then dove back into her mind. The flow of energy had already increased so greatly that it was all he could do not to be swept away by it. He couldn't hope to locate the source anymore, the part of her mind that had triggered this meltdown. No, he only had two choices. Deciding he should take the more humane one, he moved to a different part of her mind and found what he was looking for.

He paused, his fingers resting on the back of her neck. No matter how many people he had killed in the past, he didn't want to kill this woman, who had done nothing to wrong himself or anyone else. Resigning himself to the act, he prepared to send the Trance signal that would shut down her breathing and heartbeat.

Just before he did it, he saw something that shocked him. The air over the woman had darkened, like when Grana held light in one place. But this was different, this was more like a shadow being cast by nothing. As he watched, it grew, stretching up into a thin line, then spreading outward. It wasn't until the hole was as large as himself that he snapped to his senses. The Trance signal shot down his hand, into her brain. She jerked briefly as her body began to die from lack of blood flow and oxygen. The vibrations slowed down rapidly, stopping completely after just a few seconds. Amagi immediately sent a second Trance signal, reactivating her body in the hope that she could be saved. He was already sending out a widespread telepathic message, calling every Cure user to his location.

She started breathing shakily after a few seconds. At least her body was alive. Amagi knew all too well how much damage could have been done to her brain by that maneuver.

He decided to worry about that later. Not only had she leveled a few buildings before he stopped her, this hole in the air hadn't disappeared. It just hung there, silent and pitch-black, a sphere almost seven feet in diameter. The edges quivered slightly, but it didn't look like it was getting any bigger or smaller. He walked around it slowly, examining it from every angle. It was perfectly identical no matter where he stood. The Cure users arrived, speeding down the street with their Rise, calling his attention back to the woman.

"Keep away from this," he told them, gesturing at the hole.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," he said. While that was true, he did have a theory growing. But it wasn't something to share with them. He would have to get Junas to set a couple of guards here, make sure nobody messed with this. If it was what he thought it was, it could be very bad news.

XXXXX

"Nice job," one of his inner voices told him.

"I know," the Dark One said.

XXXXX

Jiraiya unsealed his space-time matrix and knew at once that something was wrong. It sucked in more chakra, as if there was suddenly more to unseal than before. Only a second passed before it popped open, dumping all of Jiraiya's possessions back into existence, along with a tall man wearing a black cloak.

XXXXX

Niten stepped through the gate expecting his foot to come down on solid stone. Instead it came down on nothing, and he fell through the gate, tumbling through empty air. The shock vanished in an instant as he took in the situation. Below him he saw a grassy area right next to a sharp drop-off, a lake at the bottom of that drop, and a single figure with an oversized fishing pole sitting by the cliff. Niten decided against trying to maneuver himself to fall in the lake. At this height, it would be at least as painful as landing on solid ground, and there was the added risk of drowning.

Less than a second had passed since he began to fall. Without wasting time, he brought up his aura. A navy blue smoke rose from his body and he solidified it at once, turning it into solid armor around his whole body. The fall would only last two or three seconds; too little for a parachute to be of any use, too much to avoid serious injuries. At least the armor would offer some degree of padding.

Niten stuck the ground heavily, pounding a crater into the earth loudly enough to send birds scattering, screeching their displeasure for the world to hear. The large figure who'd been fishing jumped to his feet, wheeling around to see what had interrupted him.

The immortal samurai calmly took stock of the situation as his armor turned back into smoke and dissipated. He'd fallen enough times that it had been a reflex to tuck and roll, absorbing and dispersing the impact of the landing. Thanks to that and the armor, he was only suffering a few bruises, plus a slight headache after using his aura so suddenly. Physically, he was in good shape. The real question was, where was he if not Xibalba?

Looking up at the tall, muscular figure now staring at him in bemusement, Niten hoped this man would be able to tell him where he was. He looked like a warrior, with that physique, the way he held himself, and the scars on his face.

"I wonder if you could tell me where I am?"

"Could you at least give a name first?" the stranger asked.

"My name is Niten," the samurai introduced himself with an apologetic bow of the head.

"I am Starjun," the black-haired man replied. "As to where you are, this is the Western continent. One of the lesser known places. I come here a lot when I need time to myself."

"The Western continent?" Niten repeated.

"Yes. Of the Human World, of course."

Niten frowned as he mulled over that thought.

"I'm afraid I am quite lost."

"Well, before you go, would you at least like to share a meal?" Starjun asked. He gave a hard yank to his oversized fishing pole and a massive fish was hauled up out of the lake, crashing to the ground next to them. Niten tried to keep the shock from his face as he looked at the fish that was as large as a full-grown elephant.

"How could I refuse?"

XXXXX

"Who are you?" Jiraiya asked the cloaked man, palming a shuriken.

"Who am I?" the man sneered, pointing some sort of stick at the ninja. "You are the one who transported me here."

"I didn't do anything to you. You must have gotten mixed up in my seal matrix somehow."

The cloaked man scowled, as if he didn't understand what Jiraiya had just said. He was an unpleasant looking man, with greasy black hair and a hooked nose. His dark eyes looked at Jiraiya with suspicion and paranoia.

"I was merely attempting to Apparate," he spat at Jiraiya. "I could have done nothing to get involved in your… seal matrix."

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to frown at an unfamiliar word. Apparate?

"How about you at least tell me your name, okay? I'm Jiraiya, the Toad Sage."

The man raised an eyebrow at the last bit. Jiraiya was used to people disregarding his title as a sage. No one understood just what it meant and how exclusive a group it was.

"Severus Snape," the man replied. He lowered the stick just a little bit. Jiraiya wasn't sure what it was, but Snape clearly thought it a useful weapon if it was all he drew in a situation like this.

"Okay then." Jiraiya adjusted his stance, controlling his body language to appear less threatening. He was still ready to throw the shuriken at Snape's head at a moment's notice, but hopefully it wouldn't be necessary.

XXXXX

Amagi, Junas, and Grana stood around the hole-in-the-air. Night had fallen, but it was no different. The three of them had agreed it wasn't likely to go away any time soon, if ever. They'd tested it a little, but Grana's telekinesis couldn't move it, Junas's God Blade couldn't cut it, and Amagi's Sephiroth couldn't absorb any energy. Shiner had been there earlier and tried to teleport it, but wasn't able to. It was just like a hole: it wasn't a _thing_, it was the absence of anything.

Since it was like a hole, they'd tried tossing things into it. Everything vanished, sinking into the black sphere without a trace. Junas had reached his hand in and pulled it back out; nothing bad had happened. It was just a little cold.

"We've wasted enough time," the military chief said. "We should go ahead and decide if one of us is going through."

"Chill out," Grana said. The lazy architect yawned widely. "It's not going anywhere. We should get some more people to run tests on it before we just jump in."

"It's not dangerous," Junas pointed out.

"As far as we know," Amagi said. "No sense risking more than we need to." He, of course, would probably be immune even if something about the hole could kill an ordinary person.

"What we need is to find out what this is and what it does," Junas declared.

"Where's Riko?" Amagi asked. "She can make something to send in and take a look around."

"She had a rough day, her boyfriend dumped her," Junas snapped. Amagi and Grana both raised their eyebrows at him.

"Junas, we all like Riko, but I think this is a little more important than her love life."

"I agree, but we all know what she'll be like if we order her out here right now."

"He's right," Grana agreed. "Remember her first crush? When she found out he was dating that other girl?"

"Can't forget that. And then there was the first boy she kissed, when he broke up with her."

"Right, right. And what was the third one? That boy who dumped her the day before prom, right?"

"God, the amount of work it took to get him vertical again," Amagi shook his head. It was safe to say the Cure masters of Flower Country were not fond of Riko Hachiboshi.

"Still, it was better than when her first girlfriend dumped her," Junas reminded them.

"True."

"Definitely."

All three of them grimaced at the memory.

"Okay, so let's not force Riko to come out and work tonight," Amagi decided. "Then we either send someone in, or wait until tomorrow."

"I'll go," Junas announced. "Since you're both too scared to go in."

"Wanna say that again?" Grana sneered. "No. 5?"

"Afraid to admit you've gotten dull, No. 1?"

The two former experiments glared at each either for a few seconds before Amagi interrupted.

"Need I remind you that neither one of you ever beat me in a fight?"

"That's 'cause you don't fight fair, No. 7," Grana said.

"No, I don't. I fight to win." The king stared down his one-eyed subject until the latter sighed and looked away.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"Junas and I will investigate this hole. We'll see if it leads anywhere." Amagi conjured a Sephiroth seed and dropped it into the ground. A tall tree sprouted next to the hole. Vines grew from the branches and Amagi wrapped one around his arm, motioning for Junas to do the same. The dark-haired psychic did so.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Grana asked.

"We'll be back within an hour," Amagi stated. He turned to Junas. "Ready?"

"I've been ready," Junas scowled. Amagi nodded curtly and moved to the hole. He took a breath, then leaned forward so his head and shoulders went into the hole.

It was cold, but not unbearably so. Dark too, a complete absence of light. Amagi put a hand up in front of his face and conjured another glowing seed. It lit up his hand and arm. Looking past that, however, Amagi saw nothing. He cautiously stepped farther forward, his foot coming down on a solid surface. Two more steps carried him all the way through the darkness of the hole.

He emerged into a long and rather ordinary hallway. Right in front of him were three people, two men and a woman, all looking at him in surprise. Before any of them could react, Junas stepped out of the hole next to Amagi.

"This day is just getting weirder and weirder," one man said.

_You__'re telling me,_ Amagi thought.

XXXXX

Niten watched, slightly awed, as Starjun ate the last of the huge fish; it was the third one the odd man had pulled out of the lake. Niten himself had eaten only half the tail of the first fish. He couldn't fathom how his acquaintance was devouring so much food so easily. The black-haired man chuckled as he noticed the look on the samurai's face.

"Never met someone with Gourmet Cells?"

"I don't know what those are," Niten answered honestly.

"They enhance the physical capabilities of any being that has them. Most people aren't able to integrate them completely, but they still give us a lot of power beyond the ordinary. Unfortunately, they need a lot of food in order to use that much power."

"I see," Niten mused. Of course, some sort of experimental gene that facilitated greater power would have drawbacks like that. He wondered what Elder had created this Shadowrealm and why he'd never heard of it.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you," Starjun said as he got to his feet. "But I have to go back to the Bishokukai. Midora is probably going to have a new job for me."

"Midora? Is that who you work for?"

"Yes." Starjun seemed to think over his next words, as if trying to decide how much he should tell Niten. "He's the leader of the Bishokukai. He's an amazing man."

"Would he know anything about where I could locate other Shadowrealms?" Niten had already explained to Starjun about the web of small dimensions that the Elders and other creatures of folklore tended to inhabit. He'd already determined that this world – while clearly much bigger than an ordinary Shadowrealm – wasn't the primary Earth Realm, the original world.

"He might know," Starjun agreed. "But I don't think he would tell you without a price. And you don't look like someone who could do much for him."

Niten shrugged casually.

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Still, I'd rather not waste Midora's time. He can be temperamental."

"I understand."

"Well, good luck to you."

As Starjun walked away, Niten pondered what he should do. This wasn't the first time for him to get lost in the Shadowrealms, but usually they weren't as big as this one seemed to be. At least Starjun had given him directions to the nearest part of civilization.

"Hey, Niten!" Starjun called to him. "Get away from there!"

The samurai reacted quickly, racing towards Starjun. He heard a rush of air behind him, then something hit the ground hard, the impact nearly knocking him off his feet. He spun around, one hand settling on his katana as he faced the threat.

_Why are all the animals here so big?_ He wondered as he looked at the massive tiger. He blinked in surprise when he saw that only its front half was tiger; the back half was something like a horse.

"Tiger-horse," Starjun said as he reached Niten's side.

"Rather an obvious name," the samurai pointed out.

"I know."

"Is everything here so odd?"

Starjun laughed.

"This is nothing. Relax, I can take care of it."

"No need," Niten replied calmly, his grip tightening on his sword. Starjun looked surprised.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I've been in more than one fight."

"If you insist." The tall warrior stepped back as the tiger-horse focused its attention on the much shorter samurai. It snarled as it began to slowly circle Niten.

The monster and the immortal sprang at the same time. Starjun was shocked that all he could see of the clash was a flash of steel. Niten landed lightly on his feet behind the tiger-horse, already putting his katana back in its sheath. As the beast turned back towards him, blood spurted out of a cut in its neck. It stumbled, then collapsed.

"What?" Starjun hurried over to it to check the animal's condition. Its pulse was already fading, and it barely had the strength to snarl at him. The hunter turned to the samurai, shocked at what he had just seen. "How in the world did you know where its carotid artery was?"

"I told you, I've been in more than one fight," Niten told him. "I can handle myself quite well, and I've seen stranger things than this."

"Well, that is quite something. I know people in the Bishokukai who couldn't do that." He seemed to think for a moment, then smiled at Niten. "Any interest in a job while you look for a way back home?"

_This could be quite advantageous,_ the hunter thought.

XXXXX

"I see," Sarutobi Hiruzen mused. Jiraiya sat next to his teacher facing Snape, who he'd brought with him. The wizard had explained to the two ninja about his world, and how he'd found himself suddenly tugged into their world by Jiraiya's new seal. Even at fifty, Jiraiya still felt like a child again when his teacher gave him that disapproving look that said, _You were experimenting with new jutsus again? How many times have I warned you about that?_

"Have you any idea how to return me?"

"Luckily, my predecessor was a master of space-time ninjutsu. I am sure that if we study his notes and compare them to what Jiraiya did, we can figure out how to send you back to your world."

"Thank you."

Both ninjas noted that even that sounded rude coming from Snape.

"I wonder though, about this magic of yours." Sarutobi looked curiously at Snape. "If we could work out how to travel back and forth between our worlds, is there any way we could learn how to use the same magic you do? It seems like it could be rather convenient."

"You have to be born with magic," Snape explained. "It is not something that anyone can use. Although you are clearly not ordinary Muggles."

"I see. Chakra and ninjutsu is something that must be trained from a young age, but it's still different from your magic. Almost anyone can learn to use chakra if they start early enough."

"But just how similar are they?" Jiraiya pondered. "Is magic just another application of chakra, like how seals are different from ninjutsu?"

"Perhaps. I would like to study it a bit, if it's at all possible," Sarutobi directed his comment at Snape.

"I'm not the person to talk to about it. If you get me back home, I can put you in touch with a man named Albus Dumbledore. He's a better person than me to talk to about this business."

"Thank you." Sarutobi got to his feet and the other two did the same. "On that note, I should get to work on sending you back."

_An alliance with these wizards could be quite advantageous._

XXXXX

"_This is Death?"_ Junas asked Amagi telepathically.

"_Much different than I would have expected,"_ Amagi replied.

"Well, I don't think there's too much to worry about," the strange figure in front of them said. He was quite tall, but only had the vague suggestion of a human shape under the tattered black cloak. Instead of legs, a single black column zig-zagged down to the ground. If he had arms, they were hidden under the cloak. His only real feature was the cartoonish skull mask on his face.

"Are you sure, Lord Death?" Spirit asked. The red-haired man had been the one to witness Amagi and Junas emerge from the hole. The suspicion in his eyes had yet to leave. That was okay. Junas was being equally paranoid towards these strange people.

"I've already told you, I and my comrades mean you people no harm. This was all an unfortunate accident."

"Of course, of course," Death said cheerily. "These things happen, Spirit! Relax!"

Spirit didn't relax. Junas still had one hand in the pocket with his knife.

Amagi smiled reassuringly at Death. After some of the maniacs he'd worked with in the past – Eiji and Dholaki in particular – a bit of silliness hardly bothered him.

"We don't know yet if the hole will close on its own or not. But I think it's best if we just leave it be and make sure no one bothers it."

"Really? You don't want to keep it open to stay in touch? A lonely guy like you should try to get out and make more friends!"

Amagi carefully kept his facial expression under control. He'd not made a single mention of himself or his life, certainly nothing from which Death could glean a detail like that. Yet it was true. Amagi _was_ lonely. He made a mental note to not underestimate Lord Death, no matter how silly the man acted.

"Well, I am rather busy running a country, and I doubt you have much free time yourself."

Spirit chuckled, his expression lightening for the first time.

"Trust me, he has free time in spades. He made sure to set up the school so it runs with minimal work on his part."

Amagi cracked a smile at that. Grana would likely get along with Death.

"What kind of school is this? What do you teach?" Junas asked.

"We teach young Demon Weapons how to control their powers, and we teach young Meisters how to work together with Demon Weapons," Spirit explained. Amagi raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar terms.

"We don't have Demon Weapons and Meisters where we're from," he explained. "Just psychics."

"Oh, Demon Weapons are people who can transform into weapons. A Meister is a person who fights with a Demon Weapon. The two have to be spiritually compatible with each other, but the resulting combination can be incredibly powerful."

"Which one are you?" Junas asked Spirit. "Weapon or Meister?"

Spirit smirked, then his arm glowed and a large black blade sprouted from it.

"Well that's… not something you see every day," Amagi commented.

"It is around here!" Death announced.

"Perhaps it _would_ be a good idea for us to stay in contact with each other." _An alliance could prove advantageous to us both._

XXXXXXX

The Dark One gave a satisfied grin. Everything was in motion. Now, time to see what happened. He teleported, materializing in the midst of a group of other Gods and conjured a bucket of popcorn as everyone settled in to watch.

XXXXXXX

Like I said, this is just a twoshot to introduce an idea that will span many more stories, hence the lack of much conflict. Over time, I'll weave all six of these worlds and one more besides together - hence the Seven Realms. I have the overarching plot pretty well worked out.

Some of these stories that I'm crossing over are kind of obscure. Amagi Miroku and the psychics are from a manga called Psyren. Niten is from a series of novels called Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel; if you haven't read that series, he's known historically as Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest samurai who ever lived. The other four stories are more well known: Naruto, Harry Potter, Soul Eater, and Toriko. Since I'm sure not all of you will have read all those stories, I'll do what I can to explain the magic systems in them, to keep all the readers on the same page.

Psyren fans: obviously, I've taken that world well into the future of where the manga ended, about fifteen years. I couldn't find a good way to integrate it with the other worlds while they were still going to the future, and I really liked Amagi's idea of building a country purely for psychics. It's a lot of projection, and those characters may be a little different as a result, but I'm trying to keep them still recognizable. Also, hopefully you'll understand why he named it Flower Country, despite that sounding rather lame.

As for the other stories, they're pretty much all set before the manga/books.

I'm going to start writing the next story in this series soon, so if you're interested keep an eye out for it.


End file.
